Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'

Louise Minchin reveals why she gave up sport as a teen

Louise Minchin shared her heartbreaking reason for walking away from her career when she was in her teens.

The 56-year-old, former BBC Breakfast host had been a keen sports woman and talented swimmer before she found fame on the iconic red sofa. When she was just 15-years-old she was pipped for great things but decided to give it all up.

Speaking on James Martin's Saturday Kitchen, Louise confessed she'd thrown the towel because she'd been too worried about her appearance. Long hours of training in the water saw the TV personality become a lot more toned.

After noticing her shoulder had become "quite muscular" she decided swimming was no longer for her and gave it up even though she had a promising career ahead of her.

Later in life, Louise came to regret her decision, admitting to the TV chef that she "quite liked my muscular shoulders now" as she decided to pick up where she left off all those years ago. Now a huge sports fan, Louise takes part in triathlons to keep herself in great shape.

Louise opened up about quitting her career on James Martin's ITV show (Image: ITV)

Kicking off the discussion, James probed: "I mentioned earlier in the chat, you love sport, you are sporty?" Louise told him: "I was really late to it because I gave up sport."

She added: "This is a really important message, I like talking about it. When I was 15, I gave it up..." James interrupted: "You gave it up, you wanted to be an athlete?"

"No, I gave it up to be brutal because I looked in the mirror, I was a good swimmer, and I saw my really muscley shoulders and I thought, 'I don't like how that makes me look'," said the former BBC host.

Louise struggled with her appearance (Image: ITV)

Louise went on to talk about regreting that choice, telling James: "Now I'm really happy to have muscley shoulders." The TV star overcame her own fear of her sporty body and did eventually take up swimming when she was in her forties.

Speaking about her achievements, Louise said: "If you told me this ten years ago, I wouldn't have believed you, so I now do more endurance sport like long-distance swims, I did one at the weekend which was 3km which I love."

"That's amazing," chimed James as the red sofa star praised: "You can tell, I get a real buzz out of it." Meanwhile, earlier on the programme talk turned to her BBC Breakfast exit.

Louise opened up about her former sports career (Image: ITV) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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Back in September 2021, Louise walked away from her on-screen career with the BBC and co-star Dan Walker, throwing the towel in on her hosting role after 20 years. It was certainly a move that rocked the entire nation.

Naturally with her exit being such a big talking point, even today, James wanted to touch on that. He asked: "So I want to talk to you about leaving something like that because that's a big decision for you?"

"I talked about how much I loved being on the show and loved being part of this huge BBC Breakfast family but at the end of the day, you have to get up extremely early, you know it's relentless.

"I was permanently jet-lagged and eventually I thought, I've loved this, it's been fantastic but I need to get some sleep," explained Louise who was now promoting her new book - Isolation Island.

James Martin's Saturday Kitchen airs each Saturday, from 09:30am, on ITV.

Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'

Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'

Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'

Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'

Louise Minchin's heartbreaking reason for quitting career 'I didn't like how I looked'